Railway foot-guard.



No. 783,260. PATENTED FEB. 21, 1905. W. FROST &T. F. STALEY.

RAILWAY FOOT GUARD.

APPLICATION FILED OCT. 28, 1904.

k m W? 2w mm own WILLIAM FROST,

LULA, ILLINOIS; SAID FROST ASSIGNOR TO CHARLES TALLULA, ILLINOIS.

Patented February 21, 1905.

OF PETERSBURG, AND THOMAS F. STALEY, OF TAL- KINOAID, OF

RAILWAY FOOT-GUARD.

SPECIFICATION forining part of Letters Patent No. 783,260, dated February 21, 1905. Applieation filed October 28, 1904. Serial No. 280,420.

To uJ/Z wit/mt it nuty concern:

Be it known that we, WVILLIAu FRosT, residing atPetersburg, and THOMAS F. STALEY, residing at Tallula, in the county of Menard and State of Illinois, citizens of the United States, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Railway Foot-Guards; and we do declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use the same.

Our invention relates to improvements in safety devices for railways, and more particularly to foot-guards for railway-switches, switch-frogs, guard-rails, and the like.

The object of our invention is to provide a simple, durable, and highly efficient device of this character in the form of a spring block .or support adapted to be placed between two converging rails to prevent the foot of a person or animal from being wedged in between the rails.

With the above and other objects in view the invention consists of certain novel features of construction, combination, and arrangements of parts, as will be hereinafter more fully described, and particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a top plan view of a foot-guard constructed in accordance with our invention, the same being mounted between two converging trackrails. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal vertical sectional view taken on the line 2 2 of Fig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical transverse sectional .view taken on the line 3 3 of Fig. 1. Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the base or .bottom plate of the device, and Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the top or guard plate of the device.

Referring to the drawings by numeral, 1 and 2 denote two converging track-rails, which are secured upon cross-ties 3 and which may form a part of a switch, switch-frog, or the like. Our improved foot-guard or safety-block I is mounted between these converging rails and comprises a base or bottom plate 5, shaped to correspond to the space between said rails and adapted to be supported upon the base-flanges of said rails, as clearly shown in Fig. 5 of the drawings. This base or bottom plate 5 1s secured in position by means of a spring-clip 6,

formed or secured at the small end of said base, and a spike 7, which is driven through an opening 8, formed in the large end of said base, and into one of the cross-ties 3. Said spring-clip 6 is substantially U-shaped and hasits upwardly-projecting spring-arm 9 engaging the under sides of the heads of the rails 1 and 2, as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings. The body portion of the base 5 is formed with one or more openings 10 to permit dirt, snow, &c., tofall through, and thus prevent the device from becoming clogged, as hereinafter explained.

Mounted upon the base or bottom plate 5 is a top or guard plate 11, which is yieldably supported and has its upper surface flush or substantially flush with the treads of the rails 1 and 2. Said top plate 11 corresponds in shape to the base 5 and has formed upon each of its side edges curved flanges 12, which are adapted to engage the under sides of the heads of the rails 1 and 2 to limit the upward movement of said top plate. The small end of the top plate 11 is curved downwardly, as shown at 13, to extend below the spring-arms 9 of the spring-clip 6, and the large end 14 of said top has its side edges formed with integral apertured cars 15, through which is passed a pivot bolt or rod 16. Upon said bolt16 is pivotally secured one end of a yielding guardplate 17, which is preferably constructed of spring metal, so that it forms a spring and hinge for said end of the top plate. Said plate 17 extends downwardly and has its lower end formed with integral tongues 18, which are loosely secured upon the base or bottom plate 5 by means of U-shaped bolts 19 passed through the latter, as shown in Fig. 2 of the drawings.

Any suitable means may be provided for yieldably supporting the top plate 11; but we preferably employ a series of coil-springs 20, which are interposed between said top and bottom plates and which are held in place by guides 21, preferably in the form of screw bolts. Said bolts project through the top plate 11, through said springs 20, and through openings 23, formed in the base or bottom plate 5, and have screw-nuts 24: upon their lower ends, as clearly shown in Fig. 3 of the drawings.

The use, operation, and advantages of our invention will be readily understood from the foregoing description,takenin connection with the accompanying drawings. 'The pivotallymounted top plate 11 is supported by the coilsprings 20, so that the said plate will not yield under the weight of a person or animal, but will yield when engaged with the flanges on the wheels of a passing car or train. The top plate 11 entirely closes the wedge-shaped space between the two track-rails, so that it would be impossible for the foot of a person or animal to become so tightly wedged as to render it impossible to remove the foot before the approach of a train.

While we have shown and described the preferred embodiment of our invention, it will be understood that we do not wish to be limited to the precise construction herein set forth, since various changes in the form, proportion, and minor details of construction may be resorted to without departing from the principle or sacrificing any of the advantages of this invention.

Having thus described our invention, what we claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. A railway switch-guard comprising a bottom plate having spring-arms at one end thereof to bear under the heads of the rails and secure said end of said plate between the rails, and a vertically-movable spring-supported top plate over the bottom plate, substantially as described.

2. A railway switch-guard comprising a bottom plate, a plate slidably connected to the bottom plate for longitudinal movement thereon and bearing on said bottom plate, and a spring-supported top plate having a slidable connection with said slidably-connected plate, substantially as described.

3. A railway switehguard comprising a bottom plate adapted to be fitted between two converging rails and provided at its smaller end with a pair of upstanding spring-arms to bear under the heads of the rails, a plate connected to the opposite end of the bottom plate for longitudinal slidable movement thereon, and a spring-supported vertically-movable top plate lying between the rails, having flanges on its sides to bear under the heads of the rails, having one end downturned to cover the spring-arms of the bottom plate and having its opposite end slidably connected to the slidably-movable plate,substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we have hereunto set our hands in presence of two subseribing witnesses.

WILLIAM FROST. THOMAS F. ST ALEY.

Witnesses:

G. G. GLENN, J. G. BELL. 

